Resurrection Monday: Lift up life!

Happy Resurrection, friends! May you know new life, peace, and hope today, tomorrow, and forever. Easter Sunday kicks off a week in the liturgical calendar known as the Easter Octave and a seven-week festival called Eastertide or The Great Fifty Days.

Jesus Lifts up Life to be Celebrated

“The joy that Jesus offers his disciples is his own joy, which flows from his intimate communion with the One who sent him. It is a joy that does not separate happy days from sad days, successful moments from moments of failure, experiences of honor from experiences of dishonor, passion from resurrection. This joy is a divine gift that does not leave us during times of illness, poverty, oppression, or persecution. It is present even when the world laughs or tortures, robs or maims, fights or kills. It is truly ecstatic, always moving us away from the house of fear into the house of love, and always proclaiming that death no longer has the final say, though its noise remains loud and its devastation visible. The joy of Jesus lifts up life to be celebrated.”

-Henri Nouwen

Watch: The smallest parrot you have ever seen by A Chick Called Albert

Read: Psalm 93, 98; Psalm 66; Jonah 2:1-9; Acts 2:14,22-32; John 14:1-14

Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Easter Monday

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Listen: A new playlist - Resurrection 2021: Who Will Roll Away the Stone?

Do: In previous years, we've celebrated the Great 50 Days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday (aka, Eastertide) with a series I've dubbed Practice Resurrection (after the Wendell Berry poem). It's one of my favorite series all year, and I'm excited to start again.  To get the photo-sharing party started, I’ve created an 8-day Instagram challenge for the first week of Eastertide. Use the prompts as simply or creatively as you’d like, add the hashtag #practiceresurrection2021 and tag me @a_sacramental_life!

Can’t wait to celebrate NEW LIFE together this week, friends!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Tamara

Click through to see my Day 2 photo!

You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Eastertide, and see previous Eastertide posts here.

You might enjoy the list of ideas I brainstormed for simple ways to practice resurrection. Choose 1 idea or 50, but whatever you do, do it with gusto!